The Flames lost the services of Rene Bourque after the winger was nailed with a hitting-from-behind major and game misconduct for piling Hawks defenceman Brent Seabrook headfirst into the corner boards at 15:25 of the first period. Seabrook, with an upper-body injury, was done for the night.

Flames centre Matt Stajan, after a hit from Montador, also left the game with an injury.

Lee Stempniak scored a highlight-reel goal when the teams met Nov. 11 in Calgary, the forward wheeling around Duncan Keith and snapping home a shot.

He had another shot at a dandy in the opening minutes Sunday night. Stempniak, behind Keith, found himself all alone with the puck on Emery’s doorstep, but, despite a pile of moves, he could not convert. (It’s worth mentioning Stempniak’s chance because it stood as the Flames’ best scoring opportunity of the first 40 minutes.)

When Calgary defenceman Derek Smith was banished for tripping Dave Bolland, the Hawks’ power play went to work. Would it surprise you to know that they have only the 24th-best home-ice power play? Not if you watched it.

Sure, they rummaged up two shots, but the best chance belonged to Alex Tanguay and Curtis Glencross, who enjoyed a two-on-one with only Patrick Sharp back.

No damage either way.

But mid-period — with the teams’ respective fourth lines going head to head — the Hawks applied a tonne of pressure in the Calgary end. Eventually, Jamal Mayers, from the left-side boards, spied an open man at the right point. The puck to Montador, who whizzed a slapper past goalie Miikka Kiprusoff at 9:23.

Later in the period, deep in Chicago’s zone, Bourque drove Seabrook into the boards, a belt that left the Chicago blueliner dazed and on the ice. Not surprisingly, Bourque received a major.

The Flames again held off the Hawks’ power play. Not helping the hosts was Marcus Kruger’s interference penalty midway through the five minutes.

The first-intermission buzzer sounded with the Flames down only 1-0 despite having mustered only three shots in the opening 20 minutes.
It took the guests to the four-minute mark of the second period to get their fourth shot. It was one of those nights for the Calgarians.

A minute later, Marian Hossa, at the left-side boards, somehow shrugged off the attention of two Chicago defenders and moved the puck to Hjalmarsson, who ripped a point shot on net. Kiprusoff blocked it, most of it, but it had enough steam left to trickle over the goal-line.

When Calgary defender Chris Butler went off for tripping Jonathan Toews, Chicago’s power play finally connected. It started with a faceoff win by Toews, and Keith took over from there, knifing a pass to Kane, who, with his sneaky little wrister, made it 3-0 at 14:55.